This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP03/14164 filed on Dec. 12, 2003, designating the United States of America, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Priority is claimed based on German Patent Application No. DE 103 01 183.8 filed on Jan. 15, 2003, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a supporting member for a fender of a vehicle, as described, for example, in German Patent Document DE 41 83 392 A1 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,035), as well as to a plurality of vehicle variants having such a supporting member.
It is an object of the invention to indicate a process by which, particularly in the case of variants within a vehicle series, a different exterior appearance of a vehicle is achieved while the development costs and manufacturing costs are as low as possible.
This object is achieved according to certain preferred embodiments of the invention by providing a supporting member for a fender of a motor vehicle, characterized in that the supporting member has at least two mutually offset connection areas on which the upper end areas of at least two different fenders can be mounted.
In this case, it is a core idea to further develop a supporting member for a fender such that it has at least two different connection areas for fastening a fender. Thus, uniform supporting members can be used for two or more vehicle variants which differ with respect to their exterior at least in the area of the fender and/or of the front opening hood. This results in a reduction of the variety of parts, connected with a lowering of the manufacturing costs because the logistics in the vehicle body shell are simplified and the production of the supporting members is less expensive in larger piece numbers.
As a result of the fastening of the fenders of the individual vehicle variants to different connection areas of the uniform supporting member, a different course of the joints between the fender and the front opening hood is obtained for the vehicle variants, which, together with the different exterior shape of the fenders and the front opening hoods decisively influences the exterior appearance of a vehicle.
The invention can be used with considerable advantages particularly in the case of “derivatives” within a vehicle series which differ, for example, in the shape of their vehicle body (sedan, coupe, fast back, combination model, convertible, roadster). By means of the invention, it therefore particularly becomes possible to produce derivatives within one “vehicle family” of a different exterior appearance. Another field of application relates, for example, to model redesigns of vehicles in the case of which the exterior appearance is to be changed at costs which are as low as possible.
According to a preferred further development of the invention, the supporting member is stepped in a staircase shape. The individual steps of the supporting member can have a different width and/or height along its longitudinal course corresponding to the desired contour of the fender and/or the front opening hood. This can influence the course of the joints in all three directions in space.
Preferably, the individual connection areas of the supporting member extend approximately horizontally. A slight deviation from the horizontal line, as a rule, is caused by the vehicle contour which normally rises slightly in the forward area. By means of the construction of two or more connection areas situated above one another for the fenders of the individual vehicle variants, it becomes possible to allow the joint between the fender and the front opening hood to extend at different levels and thus at least give the visual impression that the height of the vehicle differs in the forward area. In a similar manner, a variation of the position of the joint in the transverse direction of the vehicle provides an appearance with respect to the vehicle width. As a result, for example, in the case of sporty variants of a vehicle series, the connection of the fender can take place lower and/or farther to the outside than in the case of a sedan of the same series.
In addition to the above-described variation of the height and width position of the separating line, the course of the separating line can naturally be influenced in all three directions in space, using correspondingly designed fenders and front opening hoods while the supporting members are uniform.
The invention can preferably be used in the forward area of a motor vehicle. For the purpose of a linguistic simplification, the wording of the claims is therefore limited to fenders and front opening hoods. However, in principle, the wording of the claims also comprises supporting members for the rearward area of vehicles in the same manner as vehicles which have a correspondingly designed rearward area for a uniform supporting member with several connection areas for the rearward side wall areas, the upper end sections of the side wall areas directly adjoining a rear opening of such a vehicle.
A possible embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawing and will be described in detail in the following.